« Top Headlines » Open DEMAT Account in 24 hrs  5 major changes in the last 6 months every taxpayer should know!  Good news for taxpayers: ITR forms updated to allow 87A tax rebate claims, but there's a catch  Top 10 income tax changes from 2024 to look out for while filing ITR in 2025  15 income tax rule changes in 2024 that will impact your ITR filing in 2025 «  Advancing money to sister concerns... Legal sector liberalisation hits Bar Council wall... » I-T issues notices on land transactions October, 10th 2006 Following the detection of illegal transactions relating to sale and purchase of prime properties, involving evasion of stamp duty worth several crores, the Directorate of Investigation (Income Tax Department) has issued notices to colonisers. The department has asked them to explain the difference between rates of property, fixed by the district collector, and the existing market rates. The revenue authorities register the deeds according to the collector rates which are extremely low as compared to the prevailing market rates. According to the revenue department, on an average 150 sale/purchase deeds are registered every day in the city, while its number is much higher in the whole district. A tehsildar, on the condition of anonymity, admitted that there was a huge gap between the collector rates and market rates. Taking benefit of this the sellers and purchasers deceive the state by evading stamp duties. The illegal transactions are invariably destroyed once the deal is over and never brought to the notice of revenue department. With the investment of big colonisers from New Delhi in the border district, the real estate has witnessed a boom resulting in loss of revenue worth crore to the government. Apart from selling of residential plots in various colonies, the commercial complexes like malls, hotels and other business establishments has been sold at astonishing rates. However, colonisers are of the opinion that the evasion of stamp duty could be curtailed only if the government lowered it. They say they have invested large amount of money into the border district without any assurance or subsidy and the government must help them by lowering it.